The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SoMa (not to be confused with Hyatt Regency San Francisco in the financial district) surrendered itself to lenders. The 686-room hotel, the former Park Central San Francisco which re-opened in 2022 after $70 million in renovations, is the sixth-largest hotel in the city.
Highgate transferred control to Blackstone Mortgage Trust, an affiliate of the private equity giant Blackstone, after failing to pay $290 million in debt and fees.
Credit: Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SoMa
The city’s largest hotel, Hilton Union Square, stopped making payments on its debt and its owner turned the keys over to its lender. The same goes for Parc 55. The Four Seasons Embarcadero defaulted.
The Hyatt Regency’s owner missed a $250 million payoff deadline earlier in the year, unable to refinance the debt on viable terms. The hotel’s operating income fell by around three quarters compared to 2017. Travel to San Francisco declined, especially business travel, and meetings revenue fell off.
The city lost over 6% of its population during the pandemic, more than any other U.S. city. The city has more drug addicts than public high school students. Over 70% of San Francisco voters have said the city was on the wrong track. Here’s the epicenter of the city’s problems:
@freqmeek San Francisco Tenderloin Area Effects of The Fentanyl Crisis and The People Affected By This Epidemic. Where is our protection ? There are so many concerns and protections in place for drug users and homeless people but what about the working class that have to pray that they make it to and from work in this environment. These are real dangers faced every single day just to be able to provide for your family . They got money for war but can’t feed the poor. These elected officials both republican and democrats continue to fail the people. No humanity.. We have a crisis right here in our backyard and we’re funding wars in other countries .. #fyp #communityleader #dreamkeeper #sf #mayorlondonbreed #govgavinnewsom #fentanylkills #fentanylcrisis #opiobsessed #anxiety #relief #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #homeless #community #change #addiction #protect #humanity #safety #cityofsf #49ers #gsw #gswarriors #tragedy #crisis #epidemic #warondrugsfailure #electedofficials #sfblogger #culture #lifeinsf #mentalhealthmatters #accesstohealthcare #shaderoom #hollywood #joebiden #kamalaharris #sfpd #help #humanity #failedgovernment #politics ♬ original sound – FreqMeek
In addition to losing visitors, the pandemic made San Francisco vulnerable loss of residents – people left (whether for LA or other states), and the reason to stay in San Francisco was because of the other people who there there. Work from home and work from anywhere increasingly meant being in San Francisco was no longer the exclusive path to success in tech and adjacent industries.
Last month, voters ousted the mayor and rejected toxic board of supervisors member Dean Preston. Drugs, homelessness, and general lawlessness overtook the city and voters – still strongly liberal – rejected policies and politicians that they viewed as responsible for this.
So maybe San Francisco will turn itself around – the question is whether hotels and other businesses can hold out long enough until it does?
For those with Fox News, OAN, or Newsmax on in the background of your homes and offices, 24/7, you have been warned repeatedly that San Francisco, specifically, and California, generally, is a dystopian hellscape. Perhaps, you heard the same thing about other ‘blue’ states and cities, like NYC, Chicago, etc. Please keep believing that ‘truth’ and stay away. Thank you. Respectfully, signed, the rest of us. Peace be with you. Amen.
If and when the residents of SFO cure their TDS and MAGA Phobia and begin to elect politicians that will effectively address the issues of crime, homelessness and blight then SFO will become a beautiful city again. So will San Diego, which the downtown/Gas Light (I was just there) now looks like zombie land.
This change if it ever comes about also will entail taking the NGOs that rip off the tax payer and enforce the problem and putting them out of business. Like needle exchanges.
Gary, when did this site turn into Fox News with all the associated fear mongering? You have an actual story here but couldn’t help but remove any and all credibility you might have e with your biased editorializing. Please stick to points, hacks, and reviews. Leave the fear mongering to the professionals, we do unfortunately have plenty of them these days.
Dion’t hide the truth. San Francisco is exhibit 1 in Democrat Party urban policy. Created in a one-party state with easy access via direct referendum to the poitical process, it is what happens when you follow pure Dem polices. Compare with e.g. Dallas as an example of a city with a strong Conservative ethos and how it fared in the same conditions.
Everything bad in SFO was avoidable. Purely the result of Dem policy, not pandemics or any other exogenous force.
It has been decades since I was in San Francisco. I don’t miss it one bit. The way it is governed reflects the will of the people there.
Lived in NorCal 45 years. Stopped visiting SF years ago. Who wants to spend all morning looking for a parking space, then overpay for absolutely everything, then watch people urinate publicly, and top that off with at least one encounter with a crack addict? And it only took us an hour to get there. Why would a family plan a vacation there?
Gary’s hard turn from travel blogger into Fox News wannabe aside, this was a great hotel when I stayed here in 2022. Nice hard product, staff, and elite treatment. Here’s hoping they get back on their feet soon.
I was in San Francisco in September for the first time since the pandemic after having lived in San Jose 12 years ago. I was prepared for the worst, but everything from Nob Hill north felt no different. Yeah the situation in the Tenderloin is awful but implying that the whole city looks like that is a bit misleading.
When major hotels are defaulting in what should be considered alarming numbers, how is that right-wing? When you cannot acknowledge that there has been major degradation in many downtown areas on the West Coast.
I am in the Seattle area and have been my whole life and the filth, graffiti and homeless population has never been worse. While there are still areas that are seemingly unaffected, one cannot with open eyes see how bad it is getting.
Ignoring a problem that has been festering for over a decade, doesn’t make it go away.
San Francisco will be fine. Sure, the weather and permissive culture attracts the nation’s drug addicts and homeless. But it also attracts the best and brightest of the global talent pool. It’s not an accident that you hear much more about the former than the latter. The most productive people in the country are also its most liberal? Hey, look over here, needles!
The city goes through booms and busts like no other. The current bust is coming to end, and the next boom, just like all previous booms, will be exceptionally advantageous to the United States. Hating on San Francisco is hating on the US. If you’re an American, it’s hating on yourself. Don’t let conservative blowhards fool you.
It is funny. I’ve lived in a number of cities with bad crime and social problems. It is never quite as bad for most people as media indicates – some neighborhoods are okay, you can get private security, use private schools, and other things rich people do to separate themselves from the problem. And there are always people who just say “this is fine”.
As to SF, I have not seen a work conference held there in years. If they want more tourists, they have work to do. But maybe outside of the hotels, they don’t care.
My wife and I stayed in San Francisco last weekend. The Westin St. Francis on Union Square remains a great hotel with lots of historic charm. Site of a presidential assassination attempt as one detail.
Anyway, the tenderloin is larger than before and the homeless issue is out of control in that area. Otherwise, the City (as we locals call it) is a lovely as ever.
But your MAGAt readers can continue to berate that which is wildly superior to their glorious communities in TX, OK and AL.
Biden carried fewer than 600 counties out of the more than 3100 in the country. Yet, these blue enclaves make up more than 70% of the national GDP. Places like San Francisco subsidize those of you in Bubbastan whether you’ll admit it or not.
San Francisco has problems (primarily, I’d argue, a housing shortage with several root causes). Homelessness is among them.
But the way other cities deal with homelessness isn’t humane. It’s just that most folks aren’t there when the police sweep through and arrest residents.
I’m not saying I know the right answer here, but I do reject the idea that hiding poverty and drugs in jails is some kind of “solution.”
From what I’ve heard most (not all) of the homelessness problem is actually caused by other policies around housing, like historic preservation protections, weird building codes, zoning rules, NEPA lawsuits, and insanely underfunded inspections departments. That prevents affordable housing from getting built, which eventually results in a large homeless population.
That said, I agree with Corey. This is the Tenderloin, not all of SF. Obviously an issue in some places, but in a weekend trip all over the city last year, we saw like 3 homeless people and zero drugs. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency SoMa. It’s a nice hotel and I’d recommend it to anyone.
Not in the last 20 years have San Francisco lowered their rents to get people to come back! All the empty units and they are like let’s raise the rents even more.
I am not sure that I understand the politically oriented criticism of Gary as it pertains to this particular blog post.
He has cited statistics and noted hotels returned to lenders. Are those leveling criticism denying that SF has problems?
Undoubtedly, media outlets such as Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax tailor their emphasis on reporting things to suit their segment of viewers, as do CNN and MSNBC for their left wing viewers, but I don’t see the outrageous bias in this post.
San Francisco residents voted for this. Why the angst? You asked, you received. Enjoy!
i was just in San Francisco last month for a week. Stayed in the Richmond area as I always do. Stayed clear of the Tenderloin, as I always do. Didnt see any of the mayhem of the tenderloin. The city overall seemed better than it has for years, and still absolutely GORGEOUS. Have lots of friends and family who’ve lived there for years. They admit being upset at many of the problems and mostly support the incoming new mayor. Most of them believe the worst is behind them and that the new mayor and new perspectives will restore the city. Already feels on the upswing to me! Still vibrant, beautiful, and with great food and access to nature. ‘
Gary – have those hotels you mentioned actually shut down, or is ownership just transferring? you dont mention it.
SF has its issues just like any other city and is actively working on them. It’s still gorgeous, with great access to nature and a dynamism that few other places have. If some want to stay away because of fearmongering, good. Stay away. Those who know will continue to make a great place even better.
Still trying to find any sympathy for the folks living there who have continuously voted a particular way that enables this kind of behavior…
Nope, can’t find any.
Hoping Austin is next…
What an absolute garbage article. The problems with the city stem from a former mayor making corrupt back room deals with tech companies who hardly invested in the city and left it high and dry after the tax breaks ended. How is that the voter’s faults? Politicians of both parties are guilty of making the exact same type of deals to the detriment of their base. San Francisco is not “collapsing”, the metropolitan area has more people than ever before and hasn’t gotten any cheaper. Came here from boarding area and I’ll make sure to avoid this hack of a blog in the future.
Had to come back here to see whether the typical right-wingers showed up to shovel their turds, and they sure did. You won, now try to govern.
Fellas, as it relates to aviation gossip, which I thought was the purpose of Gary’s blog, did you ever notice how the airlines seem to know where to position their best domestic products?
Like, Delta One, United Polaris, American Flagship, and jetBlue Mint are mostly NYC-SFO/LAX. Curious.
They ain’t flying the nice stuff from Texas to Idaho or Maine. Nope. Just old-ass 737-800s and CRJ9s for you.
I hear they may finally open a Four Points by Sheraton in your small town. How exciting for you!
Agreed with some of the others here. I stayed at this property a couple of weeks ago during a visit with our infant, and the city is mostly just evolving from before with no major changes from street level. The area around the hotel is perfectly safe, and the walk to Union Square was easy, comfortable, and far from dangerous. The streets are still bustling, and with a few large exceptions there is plenty of retail and commerce options compared to most other cities and towns!
1990,
Stay salty and mentally deranged! You and Tim deserve each other!
What ignorant people here fail to realize is The Tenderloin actually has some fantastic restaurants, especially the Pakistani, Indian and Thai variety.
Yeas, The Tenderloin is a bit of a screwed up place, however whenever we visit San Francisco, we never feel worried about going there at night.
Also, most of San Francisco is totally fine. People need to stop watching Faux News and get out and travel more often.